Houston and Texas-Focused Research

The Health of Houston Survey 2010 will be the first household survey to provide communities with information about the health of people living in the Greater Houston area. The ultimate goal of the survey is to create a reliable, efficient and flexible infrastructure for a biennial survey to track emerging health issues, assess the impact of health programs, and document health improvements in valid and fully-comparable ways in the Greater Houston area.

Texas faces an impending crisis regarding the health of its population, which will profoundly influence the state’s competitive position nationally and globally. In view of these serious challenges, ten academic health institutions created the Task Force for Access to Health Care in Texas to address these issues. Task Force members also included small and large business employees, health care providers, insurers and consumers.

In 2001, the Texas Department of Insurance, through a State Planning Grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration, sponsored research on people with incomes over 200% of poverty who did not have health insurance. The authors analyzed findings from focus groups and telephone surveys and devised four main categories of people within this group: “The Reluctant,” “The Prepared,” “The Complacent,” and “The Hindered.”

The Institute aims to find preventive solutions that improve the health of Texans. It employs unique research methodologies to seek community solutions, using grassroots input and feedback from providers, practitioners, government, consumers and academics. The research conducted via focus groups, forums, and symposia indicates that there is a universal concern regarding access to health care for Texans, and a growing understanding that public health prevention and early intervention is essential for a healthy Texas future.

For more than twenty years, the Center for Public Policy Priorities (CPPP) has been a nonpartisan, nonprofit policy institute committed to improving public policies to better the economic and social conditions of low- and moderate-income Texans. The center focuses on health care access, immigrants' access to services, food and nutrition, the state's eligibility and enrollment system, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.

Healthcare Disparities

The Hispanic population is the largest growing minority group in the United States—more than 45.5 million in 2007, a number projected to almost double by 2050. Funded by the Pew Hispanic Center and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this survey was designed to explore how the diverse characteristics of the Latino population affect their health care needs, their sources of health care information, and their knowledge about chronic disease.

The National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR) describes the quality of and access to care for multiple subgroups across the United States, and also represents a source of information for tracking the Nation's progress over time. The NDHR summarizes health care quality and access among various racial, ethnic, and income groups and other priority populations, such as children and older adults.

Health Status and Healthcare System

CHIS is the nation’s largest state health survey, conducted every two years on a wide range of health topics. The survey provides statewide information on the overall population including many racial and ethnic groups, as well as local-level information on most counties for health planning and important comparison purposes. Topics include: access to health care (barriers to/disparities in health care, use of health services), cost and utilization studies.

The mission of the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) is to inform policy makers and private decision makers about how local and national changes in the financing and delivery of health care affect people. The CTS survey focuses on assessing whether consumers’ access to health care is improving or declining over time. The survey also explores patients’ satisfaction with the care they receive and with their insurance coverage. The 2010 survey is nearing completion.

Healthy People provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans. For 3 decades, Healthy People has established benchmarks and monitored progress over time in order to encourage collaborations across sectors, guide individuals toward making informed health decisions, and measure the impact of prevention activities.

America's Health Rankings has tracked the health of the nation for the past 21 years, providing a unique, comprehensive perspective on how the nation - and each state - measures up. The 2010 Edition of the Rankings suggests our nation is extremely adept at treating illness and disease. However, Americans are struggling to change unhealthy behaviors such as smoking and obesity, which cause many of these diseases in the first place.

Healthcare for Communities is designed to provide information on how the healthcare system is functioning and changing for people with alcohol, drug abuse and mental health conditions. HCC tracks changes in health policy, health care delivery, access to care, and costs and outcomes of care related to Alcohol, Drug Addiction & Mental Health (ADM) conditions.

Well-being

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index is the first-ever daily assessment of U.S. residents' health and well-being. By interviewing at least 1,000 U.S. adults every day, the Well-Being Index provides real-time measurement and insights needed to improve health, increase productivity, and lower healthcare costs. Public and private sector leaders use data on life evaluation, physical health, emotional health, healthy behavior, work environment, and basic access to develop and prioritize strategies to help their communities thrive and grow.

The National Social Life, Health and Aging Project (NSHAP) is a population-based study of health and social factors on a national scale, aiming to understand the well-being of older, community-dwelling Americans by examining the interactions among physical health, illness, medication use, cognitive function, emotional health, sensory function, health behaviors, and social connectedness.

The American Human Development Project provides easy-to-use yet methodologically sound tools for understanding the distribution of well-being and opportunity in America and stimulating fact-based dialogue about issues we all care about: health, education, and living standards. The hallmark of this work is the American Human Development Index, an alternative to GDP and other money metrics that tells the story of how ordinary Americans are faring and empowers communities with a tool to track progress over time.

Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), the Active for Life (AFL) initiative investigated how two physical activity programs for adults aged 50 and older, Active Choices (AC) and Active Living Every Day (ALED), worked in community settings. Created by researchers at Stanford University, AC used lifestyle counseling and personalized telephone support to encourage older adults to be physically active.

Children's Health

Sponsored by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau and coordinated through the National Center for Health Statistics, the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) provides a wide range of data on the physical and emotional health of children under the age of 18. The NSCH is designed to collect information on factors that impact the health and well-being of children, such as health and functional status, insurance coverage, and healthcare access.

The National Children’s Study will examine the effects of the environment, as broadly defined to include factors such as air, water, diet, sound, family dynamics, community and cultural influences, and genetics on the growth, development, and health of children across the United States, following them from before birth until age 21 years. The goal of the Study is to improve the health and well-being of children and contribute to understanding the role various factors have on health and disease.

College Health

The survey has tracked changes in health issues and trends over the last decade, enabling both ACHA and institutions of higher education to adequately identify factors affecting academic performance, respond to questions and concerns about the health of the nation’s students, develop a means to address these concerns, and ultimately improve the health and welfare of those students.

Public Opinion and Public Policy

Previous surveys have documented a substantial gap in the public's understanding and attitudes about public health. The Pew Charitable Trusts, a Philadelphia-based philanthropy that supports nonprofit activities in the areas of culture, education, the environment, health and human services, public policy, and religion, commissioned two firms, the Mellman Group and Public Opinion Strategies, to conduct both qualitative and quantitative research in 1999 to characterize the public's attitudes about public health.

This report was produced by Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization (HCFO), an initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. It aims to answer the question, “What does the public say about reforming health care delivery?” and to develop a deeper understanding of consumers’ preferences and misconceptions about health care is critical as policy-makers attempt to pass health reforms.

The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank. They are dedicated to informing and improving public policy in California through independent, objective, nonpartisan research.

As an independent philanthropy devoted to improving health policy and practice, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation works with a diverse group of dedicated people and organizations to address problems at their roots and to help make a difference on the widest scale—particularly for the most vulnerable among us. For projects to be eligible for funding they must address one of the following program areas: childhood obesity, coverage, human capital, public health, vulnerable populations, quality/equity, and pioneer work.